Lisle, Illinois ~The Benedictine University Library will celebrate American Archives Month this October with a series of events featuring the history of the University and the surrounding area.

American Archives Month events at the Benedictine library begin at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 19 with a presentation on the haunted history of the University and the Chicago area by Ursula Bielski, founder of Chicago Hauntings, Inc. (www.chicagohauntings.com), in the Coal Ben eatery in the Benedictine campus.

"With a campus dating back to the turn of the previous century, Benedictine has a rich history behind it," said Julie Wroblewski, Archives and Special Collections Librarian at the Benedictine University Library. "The school is full of surprises and has generated more than a few spooky stories."

Bielski is recognized as a leading authority on the Chicago region's ghostlore and cemetery history. A graduate of St. Benedict High School in Chicago, Bielski earned a Bachelor of Arts in History from Benedictine University and a Master of Arts in American Cultural and Intellectual History from Northeastern Illinois University.

The author of five popular and critically acclaimed books on the same subject, Bielski has been featured on numerous television documentaries, including productions by the A&E Network, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, The Travel Channel and PBS. She also appears regularly on local Chicago television and radio, and lectures throughout the year at various libraries and historical and professional societies.

The presentation will be followed by a short tour of the University Archives and Special Collections in the Benedictine Library in Kindlon Hall, featuring selected artifacts and rare books. Additional free half-hour mini-tours will be offered every Wednesday through November 23 at noon and 5:00 p.m., departing from the library's circulation desk on the second floor of Kindlon Hall.

Tour highlights include the library's oldest book (1564), an Abraham Lincoln artifact, and several of the University's oldest and rarest items.

The Benedictine Library will also host an exhibit on the history, haunted and otherwise, of the campus buildings and grounds. The exhibit runs from October 19 through the end of the year on the second floor of Kindlon Hall.

American Archives Month is a collaborative effort by professional organizations and repositories around the nation to highlight the importance of records of enduring value. Archivists are professionals who assess, collect, organize, preserve, maintain control of and provide access to information that has lasting value, and they help people find and understand the information they need in those records.

For more information about the Benedictine University Library, visit www.ben.edu/library or call (630) 829-6050.

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Benedictine University is an independent Roman Catholic institution located in Lisle, Illinois just 25 miles west of Chicago. Founded in 1887, Benedictine provides 56 undergraduate majors, 16 graduate and four doctorate programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education recently ranked Benedictine University as the seventh fastest-growing campus among private nonprofit master’s universities, and Forbes magazine named Benedictine among the top 20 percent of America’s colleges for 2011. Benedictine University’s Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program is listed by Crain’s Chicago Business as the fourth largest in the Chicago area in 2011.